Definitions for snakes
snakes

Wikipedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. snakes

   Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamidae, and Pygopodidae). Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, and on most smaller land masses; exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, the Hawaiian archipelago, and the islands of New Zealand, as well as many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific oceans. Additionally, sea snakes are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans. Around thirty families are currently recognized, comprising about 520 genera and about 3,900 species. They range in size from the tiny, 10.4 cm-long (4.1 in) Barbados threadsnake to the reticulated python of 6.95 meters (22.8 ft) in length. The fossil species Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 meters (42 ft) long. Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 Ma ago. The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene epoch (c. 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event). The oldest preserved descriptions of snakes can be found in the Brooklyn Papyrus. Most species of snake are nonvenomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom that is potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans. Nonvenomous snakes either swallow prey alive or kill by constriction.

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Snakes

   Snakes is an update to the classic Snake game from Nokia. It is freely downloadable from the Nokia N-Gage website, and can be copied to another N-Gage handset via Bluetooth. A new version is now available as an embedded game on most N-series smartphones from Nokia, e.g. Nokia N95.

U.S. National Library of Medicine(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Snakes

   Limbless REPTILES of the suborder Serpentes.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. snakes

   A tribe of North American Indians inhabiting the country between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, and from Idaho southward into Utah. They have generally been peaceable; but they collided with the whites on several occasions, which resulted disastrously for them, several of their bands being almost annihilated. Treaties were formed with them on several occasions between 1863 and 1868, and attempts have been made to place them upon reservations. All the property of a dead Shoshone is buried with him, and formerly his favorite wife and horse were killed over the corpse. In 1870 they numbered about 4000 souls.

Anagrams for snakes »

1. sneaks

How to pronounce snakes?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say snakes in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of snakes in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of snakes in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of snakes in a Sentence

1. H. Ross Perot:

   If you see a snake, just kill it. Don't appoint a committee on snakes.

2. Kenneth Krysko:

   This is ridiculous, you can't have Joe Schmo grabbing these snakes.

3. Michael Caldwell:

   This research is critical to understanding the evolution of the skulls of modern and ancient snakes.

4. The wise Pharoah Moe:

   Have you ever felt a desert-like lonliness, facing all the lions, hyenas and snakes of your imagination, with no weapon, no partner, nothing but silent, ugly, harmful aloe vera plants all around you? Giving up will only means death, while fighting, means death too..

5. Lucas Legendre:

   We suspect these large reptiles had the same reproductive strategy as viviparous lizards and snakes, which lay eggs with a very thin shell that hatch immediately after being laid.

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